Silk Cotton Tree | Semal -The Harbinger Of Spring

Last year, I posted Search for Flame of Forest/ Tesu tree in Jaipur. Flowers of Flame of the Forest/ Tesu tree is used for preparing organic Gulaal. Gulaal is a powder used in Holi – the festival of colors. During my explorations in parks to find Tesu tree, I spotted this visual feast in the crimson shade of Semal flowers. Unaware of its name, a street vendor in the vicinity came to my rescue; he mentioned it is a Semal tree! It’s easiest to spot the Semal tree during the springtime. The botanical name of the Semal Tree is Bombax Ceiba. It is also called the Silk Cotton Tree. Semal Tree in Hindi is called – शाल्मली, काटेसांवर, people commonly call it Semal ka Ped.

Crimson beauty. The Semal Tree is also called Silk Cotton Tree

A Semal tree during the spring

The striking and vibrant colors on the roadside.

Finding Tesu tree in an urban jungle is not easy. In contrast, Semal Tree can be spotted on roadsides across the city.

Blooming on the road in the pink city.

It’s a beautiful tree with big & bright red flowers which stands out among the surroundings. Its flower has 5 petals which only appears in the spring before the new foliage.

A close up of the Semal flower.

These red flowers create a spectacular look. The flower produces a capsule, it’s fruit. This fruit of this tree is a ball-like structure that appears during April and is full of cotton-like fiber called Kopak.

In rural areas, It is for this fiber that villagers gather the Semal fruit. Kopak is used for filling low priced pillows and quilts, which is commonly used in rural areas in India.

Captured at the start of the spring season, the flowers are about to bloom.

Semal Tree Uses

The tree is not merely beautiful, every part of this tree is useful. The bark of the Semal tree is a softwood, used in the match sticks. Since the bark lasts long even when submerged in water, fishermen use it as the float. Its seed produces edible oil, used in making soaps.

It has a medicinal use, too. Ayurvedic medicines are prepared from the gum produced by this tree. Almost every part of the tree has medicinal use in Ayurveda.

A Semal tree during early spring before the blooming of flowers

Many tribal communities in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh worship a Semal tree. They derive many uses from this tree; it’s a part and parcel of their everyday life. The tree attracts many birds and bees, after all, that’s what bright color flowers are for.

Bombax Ceiba or Silk cotton tree flower during the spring in Jaipur

According to customs, the stem of this tree is used as Holi-Danda during Holika Dahan on Holi as it is considered as a symbol of mythological character Prahlad. This has resulted in the cutting of the Semal tree at a fast pace in certain regions. The wood from this has a good demand. The Semal tree wood price ranges from Rs 250 to 400/cubic feet.

The fall in the population of this important tree species has worried environmentalists. It’s imperative that we conserve this tree species to ensure the balance in ecology as many birds and bees depend on this tree. Cutting any link in the food chain has a disastrous effect. Reduction in the bee population in some places is already a concern. It’s being said that if the bees vanish from this planet, extinction of the human population is guaranteed!

It’s interesting to note how both Tesu and Semal tree is linked with the festival of Holi. Both these trees bloom during the March-April period during which the Holi is celebrated and has bright flowers. Somehow it seems nature has planned it out, so well!!

I hope to see a lot more Semal trees in Jaipur, after-all It’s a beautiful tree. It will be interesting to mention that one of the famous writers from India- Ruskin Bond has also written about this tree in his book – The world of trees. He has a chapter called The Feast in the Semal Tree. Have you read this book?

I remember this tree from my childhood days. It’s an absolute wonder to look at when it’s in full bloom. As a 7th grader I used to walk past one such tree every day to collect it’s flowers. It lives upto its name – silk cotton tree- because it’s petals have an amzing rich, silky feel to it. And your pics do it justice. Beautifully captured

Sounds like you persisted quite a bit to look for the Tetsu tree, Arv. The Semal tree sounds very much impressive. Interesting to hear its place in faith and religion, and hopefully it’s not a tree that will go extinct soon. After all, it takes a while for trees to grow and bloom.

Very impressive close ups of the flower and fruit, and a diverse array of shots too. Love the last shot on the ground. Those fruit almost resemble pears 🙂 Silk Cotton tree is such a fitting name for it – the kopak being used to fill pillows. Imagine, if you get a pillow like that, you will be literally sleeping on a bed of flowers ::

Mabel these pictures are of flowers only. The fruit will appear after a while, so I haven’t posted their pictures, yet. In our evolution cycle, we tend to use natural products since they are available all around us, in plenty. As we move up, we replace them with “new” and “advanced” things like fiber pillows. And then some day we find that these are not good for health and create problems like asthma and so on. Unfortunately, we are ditching natural products because of thriving commercial interests. we seriously need to fall back on natural things rather than factory made commercial stuff.

Haha! Those buds look like the fruit, lol 😀 They actually look quite sizable too. I agree with you. More natural stuff the better, not only good for our health but good for the environment. Interesting that you bring up the subject of pillow in your blog. I’m on the hunt to buy a new pillow 😀

what a coincidence Mabel! I hope you are able to find something that has natural filling. It’s hard to find, though except for the down feathers which is quite pricey! I was also mistaken with the buds, initially. But then I saw the flowers blooming from few to clear out the confusion. I guess I will post a picture of the fruit, as well. 🙂

I probably will have to go with fake filling since I can’t afford something more than that right now 😀 Good luck with getting more shots in the warmer weather. I am sure you will come up with some great ones as usual 🙂

That’s a reality Mabel. Fifty years ago artificial was expensive, its the other way around now! Thanks for the good wishes. Unfortunately as the weather turns hot, the photo quality goes down. Too much light …and its quite harsh too.:)

Such a beautiful tree, Arv, and I can understand your concern about its future due to so many being cut down. Interesting to read about the Semal tree’s link with the festival of Holi, and to the production of kapok. Lovely post.

Thanks. When I started blogging I wanted to do an entire project on trees. I guess somewhere in between other things took over. Also I don’t really know if people are actually interested in knowing more about trees?
Thanks for the appreciation 🙂

This is so beautiful and your post is also informative about the other importance of the tree. I knew the use of the fruits to make cotton and the esthetic feel when the flowers are in full bloom. Many regions might have many rituals associated with the tree but for any cause, trees should not be cut down. Along with this tree, every tree plays an important role in the ecosystem so they must be preserved. After relocating to Pune I see these trees more often by the roadside which was rare in my native place in Kolkata so I become very delighted to see the bright red blooms covering the tree.

You are right, each region has its own way of celebrating a tree by way of rituals. We need to highlight their importance in our lives. We hardly know which trees are present around us which is sad, in a way. I’m glad you have found these trees in Pune. Do you look around for trees in your daily life?

I do look around trees, although I may not know a lot about them but I love trees and among other reasons the main reason is for bird watching 🙂 the flowers and the fruits are the next and then comes the foliage and after that the esthetic value it provides to the place… I can just go on with my reasons for watching trees. 🙂